Schmiegle

Thanks Doug!

I have been thinking about a fully polished path a bit lately as it could potentially save me a bunch of money AND match the entire finish of other parts (rims, brakes, seat post, handle bars).

To achieve the prep required for a polished surface, I'm thinking it would take a further 800, 2000, 4000 grit prep and possible multiple polishing compound applications.

With that said, in my painting / body shop experience (repairing truck bodies for Knapheide), surface prep prior to paint application is important. More is not always better. For paint to find a properly prepped surface to adhere to, the paint has to have something to bind to at microspocic levels. There is a balance between surface roughness (micro peaks and valleys) and how well a clear coat would adhere. I'm thinking that a fully polished 8000 grit surface prep would cause clear coat to bubble.

We don't clear coat the Gulfstream leading edges on the wings we build and that ALUMINUM produces a solid mirror finish. It just takes periodic work to maintain its brilliance...

I thought I read about a DuPont chemical etching process prior to clear coating that allowed a good surface prep while maintaining the mirror polished finish but I can't seem to find it on the internet. I'll keep digging.